Page 12 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— August 17-September 6, 2016
Multifamily
struction financing for the proj-
ect.
When completed, Greystar
will lease and manage The
Glenn.
In today’s market, it made
sense to have an apartment com-
munity as the first development
in The Jones
D i s t r i c t ,
Coakley said.
“I think it
is responding
to the contin-
ued market
demand for
multifamily
housing, in
particular at
those loca-
tions that have an immediate
access to transit,” Coakley said.
He said he thinks prospective
renters in today’s market look at
a large geographic swath before
deciding where to rent.
For example, one person in
his office who moved to Den-
ver from Minneapolis looked
at apartment communities from
Westminster to Centennial,
before deciding to rent a unit
near the Denver Botanic Gar-
dens, he said.
The Glenn is likely to draw
people who work along the
southeast corridor.
However, because residents
can walk to a light-rail station, it
opens it up to people who work
downtown and in other places.
“Greystar has been tracking
transit-oriented developments
and they are performing very
favorably relative to nonTOD
projects,” Coakley said.
“And there is a very short
supply of TOD projects under
construction,” he said.
At The Glenn, he noted, a
renter could walk to the light-
rail station and be at the Denver
Tech Center or in downtown
Denver in a short period of time.
“And with all of the new RTD
connections opening, it is easy
to get to a place like Fitzsimons
and DIA,” Coakley said.
For those who prefer to drive,
there is easy access to I-25 from
Dry Creek and County Line
roads, he noted.
“Those are very good inter-
changes,” he said.
Opus is projecting rental rates
to be just under $2 per square
foot.
“That compares very favor-
ably to competitors in the area,”
Coakley said.
The average square footage of
a unit will be about 900.
“The majority of the units will
be one-bedrooms and two-bed-
rooms, but we will have some
smaller units and some three-
bedroom units. We will have a
good cross-section of availabil-
ity,” Coakley said.
He expects The Glenn to
attract millennials as well as
empty nesters.
Of course, everyone goes after
millennials, but Coakley said
empty nesters also will be a
powerful rental demographic.
“Folks in my generation, for
example, are transitioning out
of homes and a lot of people are
looking for two-bedroom units
to live in, as they downsize,”
Coakley said.
The apartment communities
currently under construction in
the area range from about 232
units to 285 units, making The
Glenn the largest of the new
breed of communities being
built, according to Greystar’s
research.
However, there have been a
couple of recently built commu-
nities along the southeast cor-
ridor that are larger, with 353 to
362 units.
“We are one of the larger
ones,” Coakley said.
The land is not only high pro-
file, but also on a high point.
“I was talking to Glenn Jones
and he was telling me when
he was looking for a site for his
cable TV headquarters, he was
driving up and down the Valley
Highway, looking for a really
high point to build it,” Coakley
said.
“So people who are residents
at The Glenn will have great
views of the mountains, from
Pikes Peak to Longs Peak,”
Coakley said.
The land that Opus is acquir-
ing was land that Glenn Jones
acquired over years around his
headquarters building.
Jones was a true cable TV pio-
neer.
In 1961, after graduating
from the University of Colo-
rado School of Law, Jones began
his career in cable television by
representing cable companies in
their acquisition efforts across
the country.
In 1967, Jones borrowed $400
against his Volkswagen to pur-
chase his first cable system in
Georgetown.
Three years later, he formed
Jones Intercable Inc. He sold 30
percent of it in 1993 to BCI Tele-
com Holdings. In 1998, Com-
cast, with BCI, paid more than
$500 million for 37 percent of
the company. Comcast bought
the rest of the company in 1999.
Jones wanted to see the land
he had acquired be developed
into a legacy, mixed-use com-
munity that would serve the
area for generations to come.
“For several years, I’ve looked
across this expanse of land and
envisioned the potential of a
business and community center
that contributes to the vitality
of south Denver,” Jones said in
2014, when announcing he was
selling the property to Opus.
“The Jones District delivers on
this vision,” Jones said.
“We are committed to deliv-
ering a quality project to ensure
that The Jones District will cre-
ate a destination that is defined
by both economic success and
community contribution,” he
said.
Jones began acquiring the
land, around his corporate
headquarters building, about
30 years ago. He made the last
purchase, the 9.8-acre Larrick
ranch, in 2009. Louise Larrick
lived there until she died Aug.
5, 2013.
“We were good neighbors,”
“I would look over the balco-
ny (from my office) and keep an
eye on things, like making sure
the horses were in the corral,”
Jones said.
The Glenn will be the first
stick-built, wood frame apart-
ment community by Opus in
the Denver area.
It will not be its first apart-
ment building in the metro area,
however.
Opus built the concrete Verve
high-rise apartment tower in
downtown Denver for Denver-
based Amstar.
And around 2005, it built the
Pinnacle condo towers by City
Park, although they were for-
sale, not rental, units.
Opus probably will not own
The Glenn for the long term.
“We have not identified our
hold strategy, but typically we
are not long-term holders,”
Coakley said.
“We are what is known as a
merchant builder, so we usu-
ally exit a development, where
either the partner stays in and
buys us out, or we sell it to
someone else,” he explained.
“It’s too early to say what
our exit strategy will be for The
Glenn, but that is our standard
business model.”
In addition to The Glenn at
The Jones District, Opus Design
Build LLC currently is working
on a six-story, 886-stall parking
garage in Westminster.
The structure is slated for
completion in 2017 and is part
of the Westminster Retail Cen-
ter Redevelopment project.
s
Opus
Seagate Colorado Partners
selected Griffis/Blessing to
manage One Belmar Place
at 770 S. Vance St. in Lake-
wood. The apartment features
208 units. The property also
includes community amenities,
such as a fitness center, heated
swimming pool and spa, dog
wash, internet café and coffee
bar, and clubhouse.
Scott Kirkwood, district man-
ager, is adding the assignment
to his portfolio while Ronda
Inkrote will oversee day-to-day
operations as property man-
ager.
Griffis/Blessing also was
selected to manage The Centre
Apartments by Denver-based
owner Centre Colorado Springs
LLC. The 167-unit communi-
ty offers a mix of one-, two-
and three-bedroom apartment
homes and is centrally located
at 1921 Van Buren St. in Colo-
rado Springs.
Sandy Thrash, CAM, will be
the district manager, and Stela
Coffelt will be the on-site prop-
erty manager.
Also, the company was
selected by an affiliate of Fresh-
water Investments to handle
the property management of
Palo Verde Apartments, locat-
ed at 175 N. Murray Blvd. in
Colorado Springs.
Candice Kennedy, CAM, will
be the district manager, and
Tim Gunning will be the on-
site property manager.
s
One Belmar Place is located at 770 S. Vance St. in Lakewood.
A look at The Glenn from a northeast perspective
A site plan for The Glenn
Peter Coakley
